silence

Silence. This is the first time I have been alone in so long. I just got home from work and my husband picked up the baby at daycare and went to get an oil change in his truck. I don't even have the tv on. I was able to do some scrapping last night and it really helped me get my thoughts in order and decompress. I worked on this page in Miss. Ellie's book...

On my way home from work last night I stopped at Michael's and got some K & Co. phrase stickers. They are one of my favorites. I find I use little word/phrase stickers on a lot of layouts because they reinforce a sentiment I have about the photo or event. And that company has some of my favorites for a very reasonable price. This layout is about the day we took sweetpea home from the hospital. I have other photos too that I am in but these are my favorites. The paper is one of the new ones I recently picked up that I love. I have a thing for birds.

I stamped a little chickadee on a square of chipboard for an accent. The round embellishment has a little bird's nest on it...another find yesterday. I tried out some things I saw on one of glitter girl's videos at two peas. I got some suggestions to check out her videos and I love them! I have a lot of catching up to do! I find her style meshes with mine.

One more closeup...the calendars are actually some old washi tape I have from Tim Holtz...the "as it should be" is from K & Co. The alpha stickers I think are old American Crafts. I'm terrible at remember what company's supplies I use. I mix and match a lot.

Well...while it's still quiet...before the madness of dinner and baby kisses I am hoping to check out a few blogs!

Take care,

Emily

rollercoaster

my sweetpea reading

Life is a rollercoaster. And not the fun kind. I'd kinda like to get off now. I mentioned yesterday that I am worried about an important person in my life who is dealing with a reoccurance of cancer. Well...the surgery is postponed and chemo will be starting asap. Ugh. I just don't have many words today. I am hoping to sign off and do some scrapbooking as my art therapy tonight. Unfortunately it had to wait until all the evening chores were finished after getting home from work. Now I can try and relax for a bit before I crash. But before I go I'll share a few more random photos that I love...

tiny pink chucks

who me?

cheerio love

my favorite place

one of my favorite people

Thank you for reading. Hoping to catch up on everyone's posts in a day or two.

Emily

preoccupied

playing in her room

 I've been very preoccupied worrying about one of my favorite people in this world. We found out they have to go through surgery and chemotherapy for the second time. Praying and hoping that it works this time. So this week I probably won't be posting very much. That little face in the photo above is helping me and my favorite person immensely!

This weekend while my dh was out with friends on saturday I decided to have a few friends over. One is a beginner scrapper and the other sells her sewing projects on Etsy. We had a quiet craft night. I got two layouts finished for baby girl's book. Yesterday I finished up the journaling. I noticed that in my older books, in some cases, I left the journaling blank to finish later...and never did the journaling! I don't want that to happen from here on out on my pages. Anyhow...here are the two layouts. I again used mostly old stash on the first layout but used some of my new stuff on the second.

"Getting ready": I was being lazy when I photographed these and kept them in the page protectors...so I apologize for the glare...It is pretty simple. I tend to rely on the papers a lot rather than a pile of embellishments. I used some old stash again and kits I had laying around.

"Blessed": This layout is of baby girl before she came home from the hospital. The picture quality is poor because of the hospital lighting. I may reprint them in b&w at some point. She was in the Special Care Nursery/NICU for a week. Minor things....we were lucky but it was so hard. She was born 2/12/12 so many of these were taken on Valentine's Day a few days later. Our little Valentine! I used some new tags I got but most of the rest is old stash.

I'm really in need of some resources for working with 4x6 photos. I used to get a lot of photos printed by scrapbookpictures.com and they printed in various sizes. I don't like printing as I go on a home printer. I print photos on snapfish one month at a time. I like the convenience of scrapping with 4x6 since it is a traditional size and I don't have to think ahead about what size I want them printed. I like how my pages turn out if I used 1 or 2 photos or if I crop a few...but in many cases I can't crop the photos down any and I like to include 3-4 photos to really tell the story. Any page map resources that you know of for 4x6 scrapping?

Happy Monday!

using stash

I {almost} finished two layouts last night and got a chance after work to pick up some new paper from my LSS. I hadn't been in there in so long. I now remember why I love paper so much! But I actually didn't end up using any of my new paper on the layouts strangely enough! I have about 20 Cocoa Daisy kits I got several years ago that still had a lot of papers and embellishments left in them. I used some of that stash and a few older pieces. I'm not one that really worries about something being "new" or not. I'm like that with most everything. There are times that I want the newest of something....but usually I wait. I find that over time if I don't love a paper anymore I give it away but there are many that I'm still drawn to years later.

Here are my layouts:

This first one is my favorite. It is a page that is going into Ellie's 1st year scrapbook. I used old papers and embellishments and kept it pretty simple. Our wedding was beautiful and simple as well. I made my own invites from Paper Source stamps and my computer (in the photo), we got married with the ocean in the background with just 40 or so of our friends and family on a Sunday morning. The brunch reception after was wonderful. I made my bouquet and my sisters (she was my maid of honor) and my dress cost $150 off the rack at Lord & Taylor. It was everything I hoped.

My second layout is unfinished...and I'm not as happy about it. I started getting overwhelmed with choices and where to put the 4 photos so I just committed and taped them down finally. I used a really, really, really old Making Memories sticker! And the little envelope will have journaling that I'll finish this weekend. I used some washi tape I just got recently. It's not my favorite layout but it was still fun to make.

Here's some of the goodies I got at my LSS that I'm hoping to dig into this weekend!

I bought nothing but paper. Lots of paper. $26 worth!

I saw this recently and loved it! I have a thing with birds. Especially chickadees.

I don't usually buy according to line but I really liked these new papers from Authentique's Renew line. Pretty pale yellows, greys, blues, and touches of black.

Another bird! This one is My Mind's Eye: Follow your Heart

This quote got me. It reminds me of my dad. Its from Kaiser Krafts: Sears & Son Collection. I didn't love the paper...just the quote.

I love everything about this collection! So colorful and fun. I bought several sheets of it.

This was only the 2nd time I've really scrapped at my art desk in a few years and I was realizing how much I want to reorganize my supplies. I have had to baby proof everything so I can't really set it up the way I'd like but it could use some change. I have a tiny desk in the corner of our bedroom but it's perfect for me. I just wish I could have more space for storage near the desk. I have all of my old Cocoa Daisy kids still in their bags inside 12x12 storage boxes. But I store them away in our utility closet because there is more space. I hope I can reorganize and find a place for them near my desk that way I will use them up. There is still a lot of great product in them.

Maybe when I finish reorganizing I'll post a picture...

Thanks for reading! Happy Thursday!

weeknight dinner

I am in love with this recipe...so is my husband. It's Pioneer Woman's scalloped potatoes. It's actually her Potatoes Au Gratin recipe adapted by slicing the spuds thin. It's in this cookbook, her new one, that was on my Christmas list this year. Tonight I added some pieces of ham. So good! I've really liked all of the recipes I've tried of hers and they are very easy. I usually only like trying recipes on the weekends when I have more time. Almost never after work. But these are simple and the ingredients aren't too expensive either.

Mmm. Mmm.

Tonight I had all intentions of doing some scrapbooking but honestly after cooking, eating, getting the baby ready for bed, getting tomorrow's clothes ready, showering, ...I just don't feel like it. I've never really been a weeknight crafter. Ever. Except knitting. And even that I don't feel like it. I had all intentions on being less of an old lady about weeknights but I just can't! I'm tired!

But I did get to see this earlier and it just made me smile...

Miss. Ellie playing princesses with her daddy before dinner. I love them.

Hope that you had a good Tuesday! Thanks for reading...

Past Year's Projects: Part 4

I wasn't going to do a 4th post on my past year's projects but decided to show three paintings. I did these one night a few weeks ago. The only art I was regularly doing over the past few years was knitting. Mainly because it is easy to pull out wherever. In 2010 we had some serious medical issues with my dad and I just didn't feel like doing much of anything artwise. In 2011/2012 I got married and had a baby so life was so busy I didn't really have time. Also up until this past November, we were living in a 1 bedroom apartment and sharing a room with the baby. So when she was sleeping at night and I had quiet time, I couldn't use my art desk to scrap, paint, or whatever. It was just too much effort at the end of the day to pull out all my supplies and tote them to the kitchen table! So I didn't. I was an art major in college but didn't really paint. It just wasn't my thing. I loved to create realistic charcoal drawings. Most of my art was realistic. When I went to grad school for art therapy and started my career in the field 10 years ago I started doing more and more abstract stuff. It was kind of freeing. I am a perfectionist and it is quite time consuming to create something lifelike. I still love that kind of work deep down...but my work can be stressful. At the end of the day sometimes I just want to create for an hour or so and put down my feelings. Anyhow...here are three pieces I started a few weeks ago one night when I was super motivated to paint! They aren't the best...but it felt good to make them.

Abstract: This one reminds me of space. It was the first one I made that night. It is really different from what I usually do. I'm typically drawn to blues and greens...I don't even really like orange. And the dots...they were repetitive and relaxing!

Sunset: This one is unfinished.  I had been thinking of this image for awhile...

Little Red Bird: I had thought this one was unfinished...but looking at it now I think it might be done. I feel peaceful when I look at it and it was the last one I did that night. I think I felt peaceful after getting out all of the energy in the previous two. I need this peacefulness today. We received discouraging, scary news over the weekend and I need peacefulness.

That's all for today. I'm hoping to have some time to scrap this week. I'm also itching for a trip to my LSS for some new treats...its been so long! Thanks for looking!

Past Year's Projects: Part 3

Knitting has been my friend for the past year...years I should say. The first time my mom taught me I didn't catch on and I put it aside for a year or two. But when I picked it back up I was hooked. I love it. The colors, the texture, the satisfaction of creating something usable and solid. Here are some of my past year's projects...

This sweater is one of my favorites. I started it before sweetpea was born and finished it soon after. She still can fit into it...the sizing is generous. The pattern: Placket Neck Sweater is here and the yarn is here. I loved the coloring of the yarn! So fun!

 Here's a picture of sweetpea in it...one of my favorites of her...

I recently made this hat and mitten set for her. It was a size 12 months and she was around 9 months. The hat was almost too small when I put it on her! Little big head:) This is a great simple hat pattern for babies: Knitting Pure and Simple #2910. I've used it several times and it is easy and a quick knit.

These were one of the first projects I made for myself in a long time. Correction. I should say the first project I have finished for myself in a long time! The yarn (Araucania Yarns Andalien) is yummy, soft, and sparkly. The pattern was created by the owner of my LYS. Immediate gratification.

I made these fingerless mitts for my sister-in-law for Christmas. Except I finished them on Christmas Eve and she lives 400 miles away! And here they sit on my husband's desk waiting to be mailed. It's only January right?!

I started and finished this after Ellie was born. It is so quick. A little shrug. She wore it for the first time last week. Fortunately it was the first day she was coming down with the stomach flu and it escaped the doom of the laundry that followed.

These are the finished projects! I'm not going to embarrass myself with the pile of unfinished, unused stash of projects and yarn I continue to build!

Thanks for looking and reading!

Past Year's Projects: Part 2

I promised scrapping and here they are! Not many as I mentioned last time...but a few. I had all intentions of making a full scrapbook of her first year with all my favorite photos. That hasn't happened...though I have kept up with her baby book. That's something!

This first page is one that I actually started way back on maternity leave while the baby was sleeping. It was the first page I had started in over a year. 2011 was a trying year. My dad was diagnosed and treated for cancer, my soon-to-be-husband was at Officer Candidate school for 4 months in MO and I was lost. But in 2012 we were blessed. We got married, had sweetpea, and my dad got a clean bill of health. 2013 is starting out a bit challenging and my goal is allow myself time to do my art projects....

baby announcement spread

I worked on these next pages last week. It was nice to reflect back. A little sad, a little exciting, reminiscing. Sad because it is flying by but exciting because she's here. I was struck looking at pictures of the baby shower how fast it goes! She has already used/worn all of the items in those photos. How did that happen?

"pregnant"

Baby Shower: page 1

Baby Shower: Page 2

Baby Shower: Page 3

In the next post I'll share some of my knitting. Knitting has been my mainstay. It is the one art outlet I have been consistently doing besides photos. I knit when I was taking my dad to his treatments, while I was pregnant with baby girl, and when I was home on leave learning how to be her mom. It is my art therapy.

Thanks for stopping by!

Past Year's Projects: Part 1

photography has been a constant

So in the past 11 months I have begun to learn the ropes of raising a little girl while working 2 jobs and moving into our first house (a 2 bedroom condo). This week alone, I have been stuck at home for the better part of 6 days trying to keep my sick baby from getting dehydrated from the stomach flu. Needless to say there hasn't been much time for my projects and art. But as I started taking photos around the house this morning of things I have been working on I was surprised. I've managed to do more art than I thought. I'll start off with my favorite projects...

Baby & Home:

My most important and favorite "project"...Elizabeth ("Ellie") Adeline...this picture was taken soon after we took her home. She is now 11 months old and I can't believe time has gone by so fast.

 We bought our own place this summer. In the area we live, my hometown, I didn't think this would be possible. It's a modest 2BR condo but it is so much larger than our apartment and we are slowly settling in. Sweetpea finally has her own room and we have lots of space for storage. My dad installed dark, laminate wood floors for us and it's becoming our own.

Here's her room...

the picture was one that was in my room as a baby

before she pulls everything off the shelves:)

Our room has been the slowest to come together...put together a cheap Target bookshelf finally for our photos, etc...

...and at Marshall's I found this cute way to store and show my necklaces...kind of wish I had gotten two since I still have more hanging in the closet...

Our favorite part of the condo was the incredibly high ceilings which make it seem larger. Here's our living room - kitchen before...

...and after decorated for Christmas...

We are happy here!

In my next post I'll share my scrapbook pages from the past year. There aren't many...but a few. I got the urge to scrap last week and it had been a long time. Even before Ellie was born I just wasn't feeling like scrapping for a good year. But I think I'm back!

Happy Thursday!

long time no see

'
This little monkey has been keeping me busy. That's why I haven't updated since AUGUST! Yikes! I used to be so good about blogging almost everyday. Sharing projects, photos, ideas. Reading other blogs and commenting. She is 11 months old now and I finally feel like I'm getting a better balance. Working 2 jobs, taking care of her, spending time with my husband, housework, there aren't enough hours in the day. But I've been committing myself to going to a knitting group on sundays, taking some time to do a project of some sort after she goes to bed. Though truthfully, I often crash on the couch at 7pm and watch bad tv.

And for the past 4 days my little sweetpea has had a stomach bug. I'm forcefeeding her formula, water, anything and she is. not. having. it. Today she might be turning a corner I hope. I'm on Day 2 of using sick time from work and Day 4 of being stuck in this house.

We'll make it.

Now...while she's napping I'm hoping to make the most of this sick day and check out other long-lost sites I've been missing. Maybe later or tomorrow I'll post some of the few projects I have been able to do lately!

Happy Wednesday!